As the days grow shorter and cooler, and the leaves start to drop, most of our competitive seasons have come to a close for 2010. While a few late season marathons or warm-weather triathlons remain, most of you have recently completed your last target race of the year. After a full year of training and racing, you likely have some of your best fitness, but you may be mentally burnt out and 2011 is just too far off to start training for. So what to do now?

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So, a week and a half ago, I rolled out of CycleLife with my bike in a box and ready for another racing adventure! But this one was different -- it was my first race as a professional triathlete!

I’ve definitely come a long way since doing my very first triathlon last year, but even still, I knew that Chicago was going to be a tough race, especially with a pretty stacked field of some very talented athletes. I must admit, that was a bit intimidating, but also really exciting. And not having any expectations was definitely part of the fun!

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On my way to the Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hill climb, I met a friend in North Conway New Hampshire for a pre-race warm-up the day before. Contrary to predictions the weather was fantastic. The sun was warm and the air was cool, and we could see the summit of Mt. Washington as we rode. This was pretty perfect, but it got better. We were joined by two guys from the Garmin Transitions U23 squad, Walker Savidge and Peter Salon, also in town for the hill climb, who asked if they could tag along with us. 

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 What drives you as an athlete?  When your body and brain are yelling "STOP!", how do you keep moving forward towards the finish line?  Or when you are tempted by a free cupcake for the 10th day in a row (what's with the DC cupcake wars?) how do you keep walking? 

Finding that source of inspiration is integral to achieving your fitness goals. It isn't just for those painful moments during an event. Waking up at 6AM to run or jumping on the trainer in the basement while the kids are sleeping is tough! Sometimes it just isn't all that fun. 

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CycleLife organized an open water swim clinic on the 24th of July. As a CycleLife sponsored athlete, I had volunteered to help out with the workshop. I had a long, hard week of training and I must admit I was not too excited to wake up at 5:00 AM to get to the lake in time for check in. Michelle Harburg, also a CycleLife sponsored athlete, and I ended up going to the lake together.

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by a large number of participants and a well organized check-in system run by the CycleLife staff. I never had the opportunity to swim open water before my first tri. I must admit that it would have been an extremely valuable experience, not just for the obvious swim technique purposes but also for learning how to swim in packs and not be nervous about it or the logistical side of things which mimicked nicely race morning at the workshop.

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 I knew it was going to be another typical day at the Columbia Triathlon when I heard the thunder and rain outside my window at 4am. For some reason, this particular late-May race is plagued with bad weather. The rain makes for cautious cycling and sloppy transition areas. That's triathlon sometimes. I was expecting it. What I wasn't expecting was to set a personal best time on that course...a time that was attained six years ago (when it was sunny and nice). Yes, you can get faster as you get older.

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